iWorld
OTT business is a ‘lucrative market’ in India: Shemaroo’s COO-digital businesses Zubin Dubash
Mumbai: Shemaroo has been a pioneer in the Indian media and entertainment space since its inception. With the advent of digital media, Shemaroo is spreading its wings throughout the market and showing robust growth in the digital space. This could not have been possible without Zubin Dubash, the real man behind Shemaroo’s digital growth story.
In 2017, Shemaroo’s chief operating officer of digital businesses Zubin Dubash took charge of the position. Shemaroo’s digital platforms are growing stronger day by day. In the last five years, Zubin has been working tirelessly to increase the subscriber base of the company’s flagship streaming entertainment platform ShemarooMe and bestow content that matches the audience’s taste. ShemarooMe is available in over 150 countries. Its extensive content library includes Bollywood, regional, devotional, and children’s genres.
During the first two years after its release, the app’s focus was on increasing reach and awareness through partnerships. In FY’22, the revenue breakdown of the company’s digital media contributed 48 per cent while traditional media contributed 52 per cent.
The company has also launched ShemarooMe Gujarati, which includes an impressive slate of direct-to-digital movie releases, plays, and original web series starring leading actors. Over 52 new titles were released on the platform in 2021. ShemarooMe Gujarati also expanded its footprint outside India with its presence in the US, the largest market for the Gujarati diaspora.
Shemaroo originals such as Yamraj Calling, Goti Soda, and Vaat Vaat Ma, released on the platform, were well received by the audience. They are gearing up with a new content lineup like 53 Mu Panu, Cash Che To Aish Che, MatsyaVedh, Leela Natwar Ni, What The Fafada Season 01, Rajyog, Baap No Bagicho and Yamraj Calling Season 02.
The company reported that digital advertising revenue increased by 29 per cent in 2021 due to traditional advertisers’ increasing their investments in digital sales channels. 40 million households paid for 80 million video OTT subscriptions in 2021, contributing to 27 per cent growth in the number of subscriptions and 27 per cent growth in revenue. 322 million Indians consumed content that came bundled with their data plans.
In an exclusive conversation with Indiantelevision.com, Dubash shared insights about Shemaroo’s legacy, its digital journey, the OTT market and its future, and digital media opportunities and challenges.
Edited Excerpts:
On the growth of ShemarooMe
Zubin: Our focus is on the needs of the customer; it works for us. To effectively communicate with and serve the customers, it is important for us to fully comprehend their needs.
We make sure that, whatever the issues are, we provide a solution. We also ensure that the solution is developed correctly and conveyed, as well as that the consumers receive service without any issues. We concentrate on what the customers’ desires are and, based on that, we develop our proposals and solutions.
We have cutting-edge technology. The tech stack is based on numerous technological elements, and we are active on several online platforms. As a result, everything is available and distributed, and our technical support is excellent in terms of all the other elements, including analytics, technology, platform, transport, and back-end content. The entire technology stack is therefore extremely well-built to scale up at a 3x or 2x capacity within a week to 10-day period. Therefore, we developed our agile stack there.
On the legacy of Shemaroo
Zubin: We have been in business for 60 years and are well-known to people of all ages, from 18 to 60. As a result, we cater to the audience’s various segments. Our strategy is also quite straightforward. We offer video content in a variety of genres and languages.
Therefore, we follow the customer to ensure that we have a sufficient and increased presence on the platform where the client visits and utilises whatever device or technology to consume content. We are currently using our broadcast channels. As a result, we will be present to provide content to the user wherever they are. It is clearly reflected in our vision.
On his journey
Zubin: We’ve seen a multifold increase in business on all three platforms (YouTube, Facebook, and OTT). Since I joined, I have been part of building up everything, from setting up a team and planning strategy, to thinking about what the entire vision & roadmap is, and getting the tech on board, including everything. So it started with B2B to see what would happen, and then we moved on to B2C, where we have many other plans. So it has been a slow but spectacular ride since 2017. We’ve been riding the wave of digital adoption, ensuring that customers appreciate and discover every such platform across the digital landscape.
On the model
Zubin: We are a subscription-based platform. And, of course, we began in 2019, where we continued to be B2B but focused on driving subscription video on demand (SVOD) through partnerships. If we want to go from B2B to B2C, we have to wait a couple of years to showcase the entire product and offers. Additionally, we ensure that our distribution is in place through all of the B2B partnerships with telecom, direct-to-home (DTH), Internet service providers (ISP), and other players.
In 2021, we launched our B2C forum, where we began to learn about what customers wanted, as it was directly based on a specific cohort that we identified, and that cohort was that we wanted to focus on one regional market. We’ve been growing rapidly over the past five years at a rate of roughly 200 per cent annually. We’ve expanded more than 10 times in terms of utilisation, which is a really large increase in overall consumption.
On the ShemarooMe Gujarati
Zubin: There is a significant need in the Gujarati market to be driven by Gujarati content, and there are formidable players out there who can sustain and provide consistently excellent content. We devised a proposition that stated we would give you one piece of content every week, so whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a web series, or a play, we promised this weekly.
From the Gujarati audience’s perspective, we speak to customers, understand what they want, and look at different types of profiles; what the overall family audience wants to watch; what individuals want to watch; and what YouTube viewers want to watch. Then, based on that, we configure our content strategy and proceed from there. So this will be the same formula that we’ll use for different cohorts and regions that we develop as we go.
On content commissioning
Zubin: We operate under a variety of models. We commissioned our content on various models, and we worked with producers to get all of their films on the OTT platform and acquire them for long-term or perpetual rights. We also work on revenue share deals, so it’s a mixed bag of everything we work on, and we’re willing to collaborate with the entire ecosystem.
I would say we work as good partners in a professional approach with the entire ecosystem of content providers and writers. We want to create a level playing field to provide a pitch for us, and we have an opportunity to select it with the customers.
On the challenges
Zubin: Regional business is quite lucrative. There is such an acute need for content, that there will always be difficulties. As a result, you will need to manage your profit and loss appropriately. Additionally, every organisation will be considering the difficulty of acquiring customers while staying within the parameters necessary to maintain profit and loss. Every industry is dependent on the ROI and without profit do we have the appetite to burn?
On the opportunities
Zubin: We haven’t explored all areas of OTT and only got success in the Gujarat region as of now, there is enough room to expand and we will do that horizontally. We want to cater to all audiences who do not get enough content but can pay for it.
Undoubtedly, 5G will be here over the next few years. As a result, many new modules will emerge, and so will numerous new revenue streams.
On arrival of 5G
Zubin: We collaborate closely with telecommunications companies. For us, it is essentially about extending and cementing our relationships as well as providing more facilities, content, and quality. Without a doubt, 5G and any new technology for enhancing data gathering simply add a significant or exponential effect and a factor of growth to this business.
On the competition
Zubin: There are 40 OTT players, and they all have different types of content and approaches to reaching out to consumers. So, in the end, it’s essentially a supply of digital content for consumers to consume. Each OTT will have a unique strategy for the audience they are attempting to reach, where there is enough and more room for everyone to participate and grow.
I don’t see why there should be a contest. And in terms of competition, as of now, we’ve made sure that we’re playing a digitally original game, the Cohorts’ game, focusing on indie web series (that is, Indian web series). Bollywood is our forte and we will explore many more new categories. So competition is beneficial. It’s extremely useful. And it’s a good thing to have because it keeps you on your toes and forces us to make the entire industry grow.
On the OTT market
Zubin: It’s a lucrative market. There are about 80 to 90 million subscriptions in India, and at least about 40 to 50 million households have at least one OTT subscription. This is just the beginning. So the sky’s the limit. We’ve got 450 million video users or digital video users in India, and you have at least 850 million data consumers. So, as 5G comes in, there will be a huge impact on the overall streaming experience.
The lessons have all been learned. Therefore, when OTT first emerged, it was about changing people’s viewing habits away from television to smaller screens and educating them on the possibility of viewing long-form material on these screens. Shemaroo started with an advertising-based model, but now it is a subscription-based model.
On the devotional genre
Zubin: We have a lot of content on live shrines. So we take the live feed from the shrines and upload it directly to our OTT platform so that customers can access it. During the Ganesha festival, we live-streamed Lal Baug ka Raja, and these audiences aren’t being served by the market as a whole. Most of them are only getting an indie web series or south dub. However, this type of content is underserved. That’s where we come in to make sure customers get what they’re looking for.
Gaming
India’s new online gaming rules take effect today, banning money games and creating a regulator
The rules, in force from today, separate e-sports from gambling and impose jail terms and stiff fines on violators
NEW DELHI: India’s online gaming sector woke up this morning to a new reality. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026, came into force today, May 1st, turning a year of legislative intent into enforceable law. The message from New Delhi is blunt: e-sports and social games are welcome; online money games are not.
The rules operationalise the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming (PROG) Act, passed by Parliament in August 2025. Together, they represent the most sweeping regulatory intervention India has made in its booming digital gaming market, one that generated Rs 23,200 crore in 2024 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 11 per cent to reach Rs 31,600 crore by 2027. The stakes, in every sense, could not be higher.
A sector out of control
The urgency behind the legislation is not hard to find. An estimated 45 crore Indians have been affected by online money gaming platforms, with losses exceeding Rs 20,000 crore. Addiction, financial ruin, money laundering, and suicides have all been linked to the sector. Seventy-seven per cent of the market’s revenues came from transaction-based games, a figure that made regulators deeply uneasy.
The government’s response, effective as of today, is categorical. Online money games, whether based on chance, skill, or any mix of the two, are banned outright. So is their advertising, promotion, and facilitation. Banks and payment processors are barred from handling related transactions. Unlawful platforms can be blocked under the Information
Technology Act, 2000.
The penalties are designed to sting. Offering or facilitating online money games can attract up to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore, or both. Repeat offenders face a minimum of three years, extendable to five, with fines between Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore. Advertising such games carries up to two years in prison and fines of up to Rs 50 lakh, with repeat violations attracting higher penalties still. Cyber cell officers at state and union territory levels, including at police station, district, and commissionerate levels, are empowered to investigate offences.
The new sheriff in town
At the centre of the new framework sits the Online Gaming Authority of India, a digital-first regulator constituted as an attached office of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, headquartered in Delhi. It is chaired by the additional secretary of MeitY and includes joint secretary-level representation from home affairs, finance, information and broadcasting, youth affairs and sports, and law and justice, a deliberately multi-sectoral design built for a complex sector.
The authority’s powers are broad. It will maintain and publish lists of online money games, investigate complaints, issue directions, orders, and codes of practice, hear appeals on user grievances, and coordinate with financial institutions and law enforcement to ensure effective and timely action.
Its decisions on game classification are to be completed within 90 days, a time-bound commitment that industry players have welcomed after years of regulatory ambiguity. Classification can be triggered by the authority acting on its own initiative, by an application from a service provider, or by a notification from the central government. Games will be assessed on objective factors: whether stakes are involved, whether players expect monetary winnings, the revenue model, and whether in-game assets can be monetised outside the game. The outcome is recorded in a determination order specific to the game and provider.
E-sports gets its moment
While the crackdown on money gaming dominates today’s headlines, the rules also carve out a structured path for e-sports and online social games. Registration, required when notified by the central government, applies to all games offered as e-sports and is based on factors including risk to users, scale, financial transactions, and country of origin. A successful application yields a digital certificate of registration with a unique number, valid for up to ten years. Service providers must display registration details, designate a point of contact, comply with data retention requirements, and follow directions on facilitating payments.
Online money games are explicitly ineligible for recognition or registration as e-sports under the National Sports Governance Act, 2025. The separation is deliberate, and the industry has noticed.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, called today’s operationalisation “encouraging,” pointing to publisher-led registration of esports titles and a time-bound determination process as creating “much-needed certainty for all stakeholders.” He added that the “continued emphasis on clearly separating esports from online money gaming is critical in preserving the integrity of competitive gaming as a skill-driven discipline.” He described it as “a proud moment to see official acknowledgement of the broader benefits of responsible esports and gaming, from building confidence, discipline, and teamwork to creating new career pathways for young talent,” and said the framework sets “a strong foundation for the ecosystem to scale in a more structured and globally competitive manner.”
Animesh Agarwal, co-founder and chief executive of S8UL, was equally bullish. “This clarity is critical in unlocking investor confidence and attracting multi-genre brands, while also enabling organisations to take a more long-term view, whether in investing in talent, scaling teams, or building globally competitive formats,” he said, adding that it “strengthens trust among audiences and mainstream stakeholders, positioning esports not just as a sport, but as a fast-growing youth entertainment category in India.”
But Agarwal urged caution on several fronts. There remains limited clarity around financial frameworks, particularly in how esports earnings are treated by banks and financial institutions. A well-defined pathway for the formal recognition or registration of esports teams is still evolving, as are structured player protections. He also called for smoother visa processes for esports athletes competing in international tournaments and for government support in developing infrastructure, including bootcamps, training facilities, and access to high-performance equipment across titles.
Vishal Parekh, chief operating officer of CyberPowerPC India, pointed to downstream effects on education and careers. “With formal recognition and policy backing, colleges and institutions are more likely to take the sector seriously, whether through dedicated esports infrastructure, training programmes, or curriculum integration,” he said, adding that this helps students view gaming as a viable career spanning roles across competitive play, content, game development, and allied industries. He noted that as esports gains prominence in global multi-sport events, the framework strengthens India’s position in international competitive gaming, and called on the ecosystem to provide the right infrastructure and access to high-performance hardware to unlock opportunities in talent development and job creation.
Protecting users, one safeguard at a time
The rules introduce a layered system of user protections calibrated to the risk profile of each game. These include age verification, age gating, time restrictions, parental controls, user reporting tools, counselling support, and fair-play and integrity monitoring. Service providers must disclose their safety features and internal grievance mechanisms when applying for determination or registration.
A two-tier grievance redressal system sits atop these safeguards. Users who are dissatisfied with a platform’s resolution can escalate to the authority within 30 days. The authority aims to dispose of such appeals within a further 30 days. A second appeal lies before the secretary of MeitY, who must also endeavour to resolve matters within 30 days. Enforcement proceedings will be conducted in digital mode wherever possible, with cases targeted for resolution within 90 days from receipt of a complaint.
Penalties under the framework are proportionate, taking into account gain from non-compliance, loss to users, the gravity of the offence, and whether violations are recurring. Mitigation efforts by service providers will also be considered when determining penalties. All penalties imposed under the Act will be credited to the Consolidated Fund of India.
The money follows the rules
For investors and founders, the implications are immediate and significant. Sagar Nair, head of incubation at LVL Zero Incubator, a 100-day sprint designed to accelerate early-stage gaming startups across India, argues that with real-money gaming now prohibited, capital will shift “away from transaction-driven models toward content-led, IP-driven, and global-first gaming businesses.” He acknowledged trade-offs: for operators with exposure to real-money formats, the market becomes more restrictive in the near term. But he argued that by clearly separating esports and non-money gaming from online money gaming, “India is positioning itself as a hub for responsible, creative, and scalable game development.” The opportunity, he said, is “to view India not just as a monetisation-first market, but as a talent, IP, and scale market,” adding that “for founders and investors willing to adapt, this shift could ultimately strengthen India’s position in the global gaming landscape.”
The government frames the wider impact in equally ambitious terms: a boost to India’s creative economy and digital exports, new career pathways for young people, protection for families from predatory platforms, and a stronger voice in global digital governance. India, it argues, offers a model for other countries grappling with the same tensions between gaming’s economic promise and its social risks, one that shows innovation and strong safeguards need not be mutually exclusive.
Whether the framework delivers on those promises will depend on enforcement, always the hardest part. But from today, the architecture is firmly in place: a regulator with teeth, a classification system with deadlines, penalties designed to deter, and a clear dividing line between games that build careers and games that destroy finances. For a sector that has grown fast and governed itself loosely, May 1st, 2026 is the day the free ride ends.
